Friday Top of the Scroll: Ted Cooke says he was asked to withdraw as Reclamation commissioner nominee
The Arizona official nominated to anchor a rocky Colorado River negotiation process with an impending deadline claims he was iced out by Upper Basin officials who thought he would be biased against them. Ted Cooke, who said he came out of retirement to try and help the two divided groups of states come to a consensus, alleged in an interview Thursday that Upper Basin state officials from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico urged members of Congress to oppose his nomination for Bureau of Reclamation commissioner. “I’ve never seen this kind of vitriol and opposition based on presumed bias,” Cooke told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Other Colorado River negotiations news:
- AP News: White House scraps water expert’s nomination as states hash out Colorado River plan
- KUNC (Greeley, Colo.): Nominee for top federal water role withdraws amid pushback from some Colorado River states
- E&E News by Politico: Colorado River negotiations teeter over future water use
- Las Vegas Review-Journal: Make ‘immediate cuts’ in water use or face crisis, Colorado River experts warn
- Salt Lake magazine (Utah): What will happen to the Glen Canyon Dam?
